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The Spirit of 1968: Toward Abolishing Terry Doctrine
Frank Rudy Cooper, Suffolk University Law School
Forthcoming 2007, New York University Review of Law and Social Change
ABSTRACT:
This essay is my contribution to the symposium memorializing the
Teaching From the Left conference, which was held at Harvard Law
School March 11, 2006. I begin by describing 1968 as a year when
progressive dreams emerged, but were killed off. I then consider
how the 1968 Terry v. Ohio decision, which allowed police
officers to "stop" and "frisk" suspects, killed off the probable
cause standard by making the new reasonable suspicion standard
the baseline test for criminal investigations. Next, I argue the
demise of the probable cause standard has gone unchallenged
because of an implicit contract wherein the mainstream grants
officers excessive discretion with the understanding that those
powers will only be used against the socially marginalized. I
conclude by speculating that the action most in keeping with the
progressive spirit of 1968 is to call for the abolishment of
Terry stop and frisk powers.
SUGGESTED CITATION:
Frank Rudy Cooper,
"The Spirit of 1968: Toward Abolishing Terry Doctrine"
(July 24, 2006).
Suffolk University Law School.
Suffolk University Law School Faculty Publications.
Paper 26.
http://lsr.nellco.org/suffolk/fp/papers/26
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